The big surprise on the boundary of the solar system: magnetic bubbles

15/06/2011

The devices are truly Voyager space pioneers. Gently hovering in space star, at a distance of 14 billion miles from Earth, they transfer information from the most remote and unexplored regions of the solar system.

Scientists said that the devices have just passed a very big news. At the edge of the solar system are cosmic bubbles. According to the computer model, these bubbles are very large - their size reaches about 160 million kilometers in width. Therefore, in order to cross at least one of them, the devices require several weeks. Voyager 1 entered the "foam space" in 2007, and Voyager 2 followed him a year later. Initially, this led researchers to confusion, but today they were able to deal with this border area.

"The magnetic field of the sun extends to the edge of the solar system," - said Ofer. "Because spinning sun, its magnetic field is bent and wrinkled, like a tutu. Distance from the sun, where the Voyagers are now, the folds stack crushed and compacted." When the magnetic field is subjected to strong compression, the interesting things start to happen. Magnetic lines are crossed and "reconnect." Folds packs reach a density such that transform themselves, sometimes in an explosive manner, magnetic bubbles in the foam.

"We never expected to find such a foam at the boundary of the solar system", - said Jim Drake, a physicist at the University of Merilendskogo. "Space Bubbles - our first line of defense against cosmic rays," - said Ofer. "We do not know - it’s good or bad."